Health Care Planning of Catastrophic Events

Health Care Planning of Catastrophic Events          PBH 450F                 Fall 2016

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Students should select a major U.S. or international disaster and prepare a written analysis (1,000-1,200 words – about 3 pages) excluding title page and references.  Please use APA formatting for references.  The disaster can be the same event you are covering in your individual presentations, or a different event.  If you select a different event, please clear your choice with Dr. Briggs before beginning.  Using library and internet sources, the analysis should assess the state of knowledge about the disaster and provide an analysis that includes:

1. Introduce the overall disaster, explain basic information.

a.Where/When:  Name, location and date of the disaster.

b.Who:  Population affected, be specific

c.Why:  If the disaster was natural, what conditions occurred that caused this disaster (Example: High Pressure, Low Pressure, Warm temperature, etc.).  If the disaster was not natural, who or what was responsible and what happened that caused the disaster to happen?

2. Short Term Effects

Describe the short-term environmental and public health effects of the disaster.  This should include:

a.Short term environmental effects – give 2 examples of short term environmental effects.  Each should include a part of the environment that was affected right after the disaster, and what the effects were.  For example, if it was an explosion, buildings may have been destroyed or a dam may have broken down causing massive flooding.  Describe each one.  Don’t just say “the dam broke down and the river flooded”, but describe which dam and which river, where they were, when it happened (whether it happened immediately or as a chain reaction an hour, a day or even a week later), and any other details you feel are relevant.

b.Short term public health effect – Choose one of the short term environmental effects you described above, then choose one short term public health effect that occurred as a result of that environmental effect.   For example, a short-term public health effect of an explosion could be loss of life from a building collapse, burns or respiratory distress.  Please include the following:

1) The short term environmental effect you chose from 2a above.

2) The short term public health effect you chose from 2b.  Describe the type of injury or illness.

3) Cite one study that examined this short term public health effect.  Give the full reference (APA style).  Use PubMed or other database to locate articles from journals.  Ask a librarian for help if you are having trouble.

4) From this study, describe:

• The population studied. Who they are (such as children under 10 years, pregnant women, all residents of a village, etc.)
• Number in the study sample.
• How information was collected about their injury or illness (such as medical records, death certificates or survey of patients at a particular hospital).
• Results of the study. What was the answer to the research question?  Were there other interesting findings of the study?

3. Long Term Effects

Describe the long-term environmental and public health effects of the disaster.  This should include:

a.Long term environmental effects – give 2 examples of long term environmental effects.  Each should include a part of the environment that remained a problem for the population for weeks, months or years after the disaster, and what the effects were.  For example, if it was a volcanic eruption, ash may have been deposited in areas surrounding the volcano, contaminating a neighboring river that remained contaminated for 2 years.  A description of this may include concentration of ash materials in the river and subsequent environmental effects of these increased concentrations (such as reduced fresh water available for wildlife and changes in fish populations).

b.Long term public health effect – Choose any one of the environmental effects you described in 2a or 3a above (long or short term environmental effects), then choose one long term public health effect that occurred as a result of that environmental effect.   For example, a long-term public health effect of poor river water quality could be depression in the population that depended on the river for their income.  Please include the following:

1) The environmental effect you chose from 2a or 3a above.

2) The long term public health effect you chose.  Describe the type of injury or illness.

3) Cite one study that examined this long term public health effect.  Give the full reference (APA style).

4) From this study, describe:

• The population studied. Who they are (such as children under 10 years, pregnant women, all residents of a village, etc.)
• Number in the study sample.
• How information was collected about their injury or illness (such as medical records, death certificates or survey of patients at a particular hospital).
• Results of the study. What was the answer to the research question?  Were there other interesting findings of the study?

4. Barriers to Health Care
5. Describe any barriers that the area affected by the disaster had in providing health care to the population. This refers to health care needed as a direct result of the catastrophic event. An example of a barrier to health care could be the destruction of a major road that served the area where the hospital was located, or the refusal of residents to seek health care based on mistrust of the system following the disaster.  If there were no barriers (which is unlikely), explain this.
6. Describe how these barriers have been addressed by the local and/or federal government, or non-profit organizations.

5. Conclusion

Please provide one short paragraph about what you learned from this analysis.  Did you feel that the environmental effects caused by the disaster were handled successfully?  Why or why not?  Did you feel that the disaster was handled well in terms of public health?  Why or why not? If you knew the exact same disaster was going to occur in the same location in a year, what would you recommend government officials do to prepare?  What would you recommend to the residents do to prepare?